X-Men: The Last Stand (PG-13)

When kids of all ages talk superheroes, there is inevitably one question that comes up time and again: If that one guy and that other guy had a fight, who would win? Comics companies indulge these debates with special issues pitting Thing against Hulk, or Wolverine versus Spider-Man, but the result is inevitably some kind of draw. Not so here: Director Brett Ratner's mutants fight and even die; timeless playground debates are settled at last. With an apparent "cure" for the mutant gene having been discovered, Magneto (Ian McKellen) is able to mobilize an army of pissed-off superkids who don't see their powers as any kind of problem. Professor X (Patrick Stewart) is distracted by the resurrected Jean Grey (Famke Janssen), who has risen from the lake she disappeared into thanks to the unleashing of her id in an alternate persona known as the Phoenix. Screenwriters Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn deliver the spectacle, but they've also retained the small character-based moments that are these movies' strong suit.